Report: Clooney’s Friendship With Roberts Strains Marriage

The source told Star that Clooney and Roberts, friends for more than 25 years, regularly seek each other’s advice on Hollywood projects. It described Roberts as Clooney’s “work wife” and claimed she is drawing on his Broadway experience as she prepares to return to the stage. The source said the relationship between Roberts and Amal has not developed into the same enduring bond, though the two women spent time together during the making of “Ticket to Paradise.”

Roberts is set to star in Bess Wohl’s play “Small Mouth Sounds,” with Paul Rudd, Sarah Paulson, Martin Freeman, Greta Lee and Isaac Powell. Joe Mantello is directing. Performances are scheduled to begin February 10, 2027, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, with opening night on March 11. The play follows six strangers at a silent retreat. Roberts last appeared on Broadway in “Three Days of Rain” in 2006; she also appeared in “The Exonerated” in 2002.

Clooney made his Broadway debut in 2025, playing journalist Edward R. Murrow in the stage adaptation of “Good Night” and “Good Luck,” which he co-wrote with Grant Heslov. Performances began at the Winter Garden Theatre in March, and the show opened on April 3. Clooney, then 63, called the live role nerve-racking in an interview with 60 Minutes. The production received multiple Tony Award nominations.

The report’s account of distance between Roberts and Amal contrasts with the actors’ past comments about their time together. During filming of “Ticket to Paradise” in Australia in 2021 and 2022, Roberts was separated from her husband, Danny Moder, and their three children because of pandemic-related travel restrictions. She told The Irish Times in September 2022 that the Clooneys had helped her through the isolation: “The Clooneys saved me from complete loneliness and despair.” Clooney said Roberts, who lived nearby, often joined the family for coffee and time with the twins, calling her “Aunt Juju” to his children.